Day 29: From the hospital

When I started this challenge, I certainly didn’t imagine I’d be finishing it from a hospital bed.

Those flu-like aches and fever from Thursday night quickly progressed to something altogether different. The pain and fatigue was bad enough to send me to the MinuteClinic on Saturday. That was unusual in and of itself, as I usually suffer for a week or more before I seek medical attention.

The nurse practitioner thought it must be viral and prescribed rest and ibuprofen. On Sunday, that pain turned into extreme weakness and loss of motor control. It was hard getting up the stairs, and I started carrying things by cradling them like footballs.

At the encouragement of friends on Facebook, I went to my primary care physician. I was hoping she’d give me a Z-Pak and send me on my way. Instead, she was very concerned by the pronounced weakness and quick progression and thought it might be Guillain-Barré syndrome. She called the neurologist. He told her to send me to the ER for tests.

So, almost 11 hours later, I’m still in the ER. I’ve been admitted, but not assigned a room. I have to wait for further tests in the morning. Every test they’ve run so far has been good. All of my vitals and other stats are fine. It’s definitely something neurological. They don’t think Guillain-Barré syndrome is likely, but it’s near the top of the list of things they are trying to rule out.

So that’s the news from the home front. It’s really bizarre to not have full control of your limbs. The pain is minimal, but I have very limited mobility. In the absence of information, I’m doing pretty well with maintaining my equanimity. I have no need to run through all kinds of scenarios. I’m happy about that.

However, today is the day that my 10,000+ steps steak ends. It ends at 119 days. If I weren’t hooked up to an IV drip on one arm (just to stay hydrated) and a blood pressure cuff on the other (standard monitoring), I’d be walking in place to get those steps in. That’s how it’s happened the past few days. And, yes, it’s as tedious as it sounds.

But I’m still determined to finish the 31-day blogging challenge. Hopefully, with some good news.